Conquering the Canyon
by Spiner909
Summary: Many challenges await Sun and Lillie, but this is the greatest one yet. Short and sweet.


I'm aware that the cover image is not of Vast Poni Canyon. Unfortunately, there isn't any fan art of the area yet. Still, the picture conveys the daunting sense of a natural obstacle, which is what I needed.

* * *

A light breeze rolls across the island, palm trees and ferns gently swaying in its wake. The afternoon sun shines clearly and strong, with only a few scant clouds in the sky. Two young trainers are following a rough dirt trail up a hill, leading further into the center of Poni Island. The first, a young woman with her blonde hair brought up in a loose ponytail, can barely contain her enthusiasm, and walks briskly with a big smile. The other, a young man with short, black hair, frowns as he studies a map of the region while walking at a much slower pace.

"It shouldn't be too much further," Sun says to himself, folding the map away back into his backpack. "Just around that bend, I think."

Lillie turns around and waves at him with both arms. "Hey, Sun!" she shouts. "I'm going to go look up ahead!"

He gives her a thumbs up before his eyes go wide, remembering.

"Wait!" he shouts back. Lillie turns around and cocks her head at him inquisitively.

"You need protection if we run into more Fearow," he says, unclipping a Pokeball from his belt. "Take Magnezone with you."

Sun holds out the Pokeball underhanded, and casually presses the release button. A beam of red light emits from the ball, and the strange, UFO-like Pokemon coalesces into existence. He raps his knuckles gently along the creature's metal exterior.

"Keep her safe for me, alright?" he says, pointing at Lillie.

Magnezone's screws rotate rapidly as the creature whirs and bloops its acknowledgment, and it zooms off towards her, levitating with electromagnetism.

Lillie shouts her appreciation and resumes her jog down the trail, magnetic guardian in tow. Sun watches her run for a while before she disappears behind a rock face - the aforementioned bend in the trail.

"Guess I should get myself prepared as well," Sun sighs, unclipping another Poke Ball. This time, a beautiful, white fox-like creature with multiple tails emerges from the red light. He reaches over to scratch his Ninetails behind the ears.

"Sorry to keep you in there for so long, Zannah. You okay?" Sun crouches down to scratch her chin, as well. Zannah nuzzles his hand in silent affection.

Sun stands up, stretching out his arms and rotating side to side. He takes a deep breath, and exhales contently.

"Alright, let's go catch up."

* * *

Sun didn't have to go far. Just around the bend in the road, he saw Lillie, standing still in front of the cliffside. Magnezone rotated around to greet its master.

"What's wrong?" Sun asked, hustling over in concern. "Why did you st-" Sun couldn't finish his sentence as his words were knocked away by the sight before him.

The day's perfect weather, combined with their position at the top of a hill, offered Sun and Lillie an ideal vantage point. With these perfect conditions, they could see just how Vast Poni Canyon got its name. The gap in the red earth was tremendous, a gaping maw stretching out across the land beneath them. Even without binoculars, they could just make out the winding trails, the vines thicker than tree trunks, the plank-and-rope bridges spanning the gaps. The few humans milling about seemed as small as Joltik.

Far, far in the distance, near the end of the canyon, they could see how the earth shifted upward, forming a miniature mountain. A few rocky outcroppings and spires strained upward, reaching out to scrape the clouds lazily floating by.

It was the very symbol of the primal _awe_ that nature could bring, and in an instant, Sun realized why Professor Kukui's eyes had gleamed when he learned that he was headed to Poni Island next. But as incredible as it was, it was also extremely daunting.

"We're meant to go through _that_...? " Sun croaked, his throat suddenly feeling rather dry. He felt the shadow of uncertainty looming over him, and he swallowed. A sudden rush of thoughts came to him, and Sun realized that he perhaps should be feeling more stressed out than he has been. He had met every challenge before him, so far, but that didn't mean it had been _easy_.

There were still more trials and Kahunas waiting, the head of a criminal gang had a serious grudge against him, and to top it all off, his friend's mother was a psychopath who had torn a hole into another dimension and nearly killed Nebby in the process. And now he had to cross this enormous canyon, quickly, to reach the mythical Altar of the Moone! With all that in mind, it would be okay to freak out _just a little_ , right?!

A gentle force pushed into the back of his legs. He turned to see Zannah, gently rubbing her head against him.

Ninetails from Alola were all partially fairy-type, and like all fairies, Zannah was highly attuned to emotions. Sun had grown familiar enough with positive Aura, or 'fairy force', to recognize its effects, and felt himself beginning to calm down. He smiled in appreciation and rubbed her behind the ears again.

" _She definitely earned a treat later, for that one,_ " Sun thought.

"She's pretty amazing, isn't she?" mused Lillie, stroking the creature's beautiful coat of fur. Sun had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that Lillie had moved over to him. Zannah must have helped her, as well.

That was somewhat shocking. Zannah was a shy Pokemon, one who only fully trusted her Trainer. The fact that she extended her kindness to Lillie, and allowed Lillie to pet her, meant that she was beginning to like her.

" _Two treats, maybe,_ " Sun thought, suddenly full of pride.

Sun took a deep breath and collected himself. "I'm surprised they didn't name it Colossal Poni Canyon. Or maybe Gargantuan," he said, beginning to laugh. Lillie smiled and added her own laughter to the chorus. The two mutually understood that their laughter was not born of amusement, but the desire to be free of their troubles.

"There are many challenges before us today," Sun said, clearing his throat. "But let us not give way to despair. Instead, let us steel ourselves with the resolve of our partner, and face them hand in hand. Together, may we find victory."

Lillie smiled gently, nodding. "That was nice. Where was that from?"

Sun shrugged. "It was something my Dad liked to say. Not sure where he heard it from."

Knowing not to push the subject, Lillie let her questions remain unspoken. She decided to redirect the conversation.

"Alright!" Lillie said, mimicking a gruff, male voice. She grinned and slammed a fist into her other hand's palm, striking a confident pose. "Let's show 'em how it's done!"

"Show who? And why are you talking like that?" Sun blinked.

Lillie bit her lip and frowned. "I was trying to sound like Captain Unova. You know, the action hero?" Lillie struck the confident pose again.

Sun snorted and rolled his eyes. " _That_ was Captain Unova? Alright."

Lillie pouted and stomped her feet in mock frustration. "Hey! It's hard for me to do the voice, okay?"

Sun laughed. "I didn't think you were the type to like superhero movies."

"It was one of the few things that my brother and I both really liked to do together."

Magnezone let out a hurried series of bleeps and whirs. Looking up, a large mass of shadows passed overhead. Thankfully, it wasn't another overly-territorial Fearow, just a bunch of Pikipek. Still, it served as a reminder to the two that it wasn't safe to completely space out like they had done.

"Alright," Sun sniffed. "I really needed that. You ready to go?"

Lillie pumped her fist into the air, and shifted back into Captain Unova's voice. "Oh yeah! We've got a canyon to conquer, after all! Let's go, soldier!"

Lillie did a heel-turn and began to walk briskly, but carefully, down the hill's trail. Magnezone floated after her, turning backwards to bleep happily at Sun and Zannah.

Sun grinned and followed her down into the canyon.

* * *

A/N:

This one-off short was almost wholly inspired by the music track that plays in Vast Poni Canyon (titled Vast Poni Canyon, conveniently). Seeing the canyon for the first time was a moment where the game went from good to great - it really 'clicked' with me. That piece of the soundtrack really gives me this feeling of 'oh, alright, I guess we're doing this!' If you haven't listened to it before, go check it out. Perhaps you'll see what I mean.

Man, Pokemon Sun/Moon was pretty great in general. They really nailed it with this one. Except the postgame grind, though, the Battle Tree can go burn for all I care. I am NOT going through that again. (And I'm not willing to pay money to use Poke Bank)

If you liked this, you may like my other Pokemon Sun/Moon short, 'A Letter to Lillie'. It takes place shortly after the main story ends. It's very short, less than a thousand words, so saying more would spoil it.

I have no plans for a fully-fleshed out Pokemon story at the moment. Currently, my big ambitious project belongs to XCOM, a prequel story five years before the start of XCOM 2. It's only about 40K words in at the moment, but I think it's off to a strong start. If you do check it out, I'd highly appreciate any feedback. I've also written things for Fire Emblem Fates and RuneScape.

I may write more Pokemon shorts in the future, if the ideas come to me (I had the idea for this short even before writing A Letter for Lillie).

All feedback is welcome. Even reviews that you may think are pointless, simple things like "I liked this" go a _long_ way to helping me write more!

Until next time, everyone!


End file.
